Duarte, Marina Melo and Moral, Rafael de Andrade and Guillemot, Joannès and Zuim, Caroline Isaac Ferreira and Potvin, Catherine and Bonat, Wagner Hugo and Stape, José Luiz and Brancalion, Pedro H. S. (2021) High tree diversity enhances light interception in tropical forests. Journal of Ecology, 109 (7). pp. 2597-2611. ISSN 0022-0477

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Abstract

1. Understanding the processes that underlie the effects of tree diversity on primary production is of foremost importance to enhance climate change mitigation by tropical forests. Here, we investigated the effects of tree diversity on light interception over space and time in two tropical tree experiments, located in Panama— Sardinilla site (monocultures to 18-species mixtures), and in Brazil—Anhembi site (20- to 114-species mixtures). 2. We assessed intercepted photosynthetically active radiation (iPAR) over horizontal grids and vertical transects (up to 5 m high in Sardinilla and up to 4 m high in Anhembi), in plots containing different richness levels and combinations of species. 3. Light interception increased from monocultures to 5-species mixtures in Sardinilla and from 20- to 114-species mixtures in Anhembi (during the dry season). At the Sardinilla site, five-species mixtures showed iPAR comparable to the best performing monocultures, despite substantial differences observed among monocultures. Diversity-iPAR relationships changed seasonally and were more pronounced during the dry season. Tree richness promoted a less variable temporal and spatial (i.e. both horizontal and vertical) distribution of light interception. 4. Synthesis. High tree diversity (i.e. over a hundred species in mixture) maximizes the amount of light intercepted by the canopy in restored tropical forests through more even capture in space and time. Diversity-light interception relationships should be critically considered for designing cost-efficient large-scale tropical forest restoration programs.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Cite as: Duarte, MM, Moral, RdA, Guillemot, J, et al. High tree diversity enhances light interception in tropical forests. J Ecol. 2021; 109: 2597–2611. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13669
Keywords:	BEF theory; biodiversity and ecosystem functioning theory; complementarity; ecological processes; ecosystem services; light partitioning; restoration ecology;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Mathematics and Statistics Faculty of Science and Engineering > Research Institutes > Hamilton Institute
Item ID:	17904
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13669
Depositing User:	Rafael de Andrade Moral
Date Deposited:	30 Nov 2023 11:45
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Ecology
Publisher:	Wiley online
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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